By skyforbes What happened:
So our mother (divorced, 80, lives alone) suffered a stroke just over a week ago. She was in the hospital for 5 days. Last week they discharged her to a nursing home that accepts Medicaid for long term care. They said she qualified for Medicaid coverage based on income, assets and change in care needed based on UAI assessment. She had filled out an application for Medicaid before her stroke, but was under Medicare beforehand.
Some extra details:
We’ve had an on and off again relationship with her and we knew that her house was probably hoarded (again). She took out a reverse mortgage on her home back in 2012. Her income is $1400/month from social security. I am unaware of any additional assetts (except a 15 year old car) but she may have some funds in her checking and savings. We are working to get POA at the moment.
What do I need to do next?:
We filled out an app D form on her behalf (to the best of our ability and left a lot blank bc we just didn’t know) and the nursing home is willing to work with her while everything was being processed. The hospital was trying to discharge her for a few days, but she had nowhere to go and needed care since she is physically unable to get out of bed at the moment. All I know is I need to verify any additional assets and make sure her checking doesn’t have more than $2k in assets, but I am not sure what to do next or how long I have to do it. I believe the nursing home has resources to assist in the Medicaid process.
What if?:
If I discover some assets like $2k-10k in a savings account at this point, what do I need to do? Is there anything I need to worry about at this point where they would kick her out or cancel her coverage? How fast do I need to get this all sorted out?
Should I?
Hire an attorney to help us navigate this? I’m worried I am going to do something wrong that may compromise her coverage.
Any advice in this situation is very much appreciated. It’s been a long week. Thank you.